We had two birthday parties on Sunday. The first was for Eleanor’s friends, and the second, later in the day, was for our family and also celebrated Brandon’s birthday. We tried this last year, thinking that it was a good way to separate the events but still have everyone involved, and it went well. This year? It felt kind of bananas. But it went well too, so yay? (We were tired that night!)

We had a dozen five-year-olds in the house, and the party was fast and fun. I snapped most of these photos after they had left, but before our family came by.

Hey look, a sneak preview of the books on the shelves! With a weird, giant horse balloon.

And more use of those giant balloons… There were three in all, and the kids loved carrying them around the house. (Brandon had them filled at the grocery store for $2/each with heart-shaped weights. The party store quoted $7/balloon with just string.)

The kids at the party spent most of their time up in the playroom, playing with Play Doh, using the toy kitchen, and trying on dress-up clothes. We didn’t want to interrupt them and steer them toward activities (like Pin the Tail on the Pony) that they might not really enjoy when they were already having fun, so we went with the play that was happening naturally. At one point, Eleanor and some of the other kids formed a marching band and they went through the house making a jolly racket, and my favorite getup was the girl who paired leopard-print kitty ears with black glasses and bongos. I like your style, young lady.

(Eleanor was kind of bummed about not playing the pony tail game with her friends, but we did do it later when our family came over. The adults were all pretty sure the older kids cheated, because their tails were all right on top of each other in just the right spot.)

We put down a plastic tablecloth and rounded all the kids up when the pizzas we ordered had arrived. To keep them busy in their seats while we got the food ready, we had markers and pre-cut circles of paper that fit my button making machine. The kids ate while Brandon made their designs into magnets, which they took home at the end of the party along with their goody bags.

After pizza came the birthday cake. I didn’t get a great shot of it because Brandon and I were both busy keeping up with all of the kids, but the cake looked similar to the one in my post on horse birthday party inspiration. Instead of bunting, I made some big paper hearts to go behind a toy horse.

But oh! The look on Eleanor’s face, and her friend’s hand on her arm. Love this shot.

And thus went our birthday celebration weekend. I don’t know if we’ll divide the parties up the same way next time though — we were all exhausted! I’m curious… do you combine the kids and the family into one party? Have them on separate days? Just do one or the other? We might need to rethink our approach.

Eleanor’s fifth birthday is only a couple of weeks away, and Brandon and I had been asking her for the past month what kind of party she’d like. The answer? A horse/LEGO/Play-Doh/kitty theme. She had a Play-Doh birthday party last year (complete with the most amazing birthday cake), so after some further consideration, we’re going with horses this year. Which means I’ve been looking for horse birthday party ideas that don’t involve cowboys and cowgirls, derby hats (as much as I love ‘em), or the presence of a live horse.

Some of the ideas are way over the top compared to what we usually do for the kids’ birthdays. A cute cake and some show ribbons? Great! A party on location at a barn with horse rides for everyone? I’m sure Eleanor would flip, but sorry kid, your party’s here at home. Still, I’ve had a lot of fun using Bing to search for inspiration. Each search earns points too, with their free Bing Rewards program (even when I use Bing on my phone). I’m going to redeem some of the points I’ve accumulated for an Amazon gift card, so all of my searching will add up to one very large horse-shaped balloon for free.

Here are some of the items and ideas we’ll be using for Eleanor’s upcoming party. I’ve already shown some of these to her, and she’s super excited!